July 1, 2024
Description
I designed this to provide a nice place where bees can collect water for their pollination, feeding, and hive-keeping chores.
The feeder requires a "wide mouth" mason jar as water container. I used a Ball wide mouth jar with an outside diameter of 3 3/8" (86mm).
In my yard I keep blue orchard bees (BOBs) and green orchard bees (GOBs), both of which need ready sources of water and dirt to make mud walls protecting their eggs.
Do not print with PLA if you plan to use this in a location with direct sunlight exposure; the PLA will deform from the sun's heat alone. I recommend PETG, ASA, or ABS in that order with regard to printability and my experience that ABS will "sun bleach" and lose its color over prolonged exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays.
This is a single piece print that needs no supports or rafts.
NOTE the non-commercial license on this item. Do not exchange prints of this item for money. I reserve the exclusive right to sell makes of this design.
I sell several improved versions of this and other sizes on my Etsy shop if you know anyone who wants a bee feeder that's threaded for regular or wide mouth jars, or soda bottles. Example items:
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — Share Alike
mikeymakesit
